Are slow-slip earthquakes under Tokyo stressing faults?

Alexandria, Va. — Tokyo, a city of more than 13 million people, has been devastated by earthquakes in the past and likely will be again. But when? And what role do ongoing slow-slip earthquakes — the kind that generally can’t be felt at the surface — play in relieving or building up stress?

New research examining plate movements under Tokyo has found that since the massive magnitude-9 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, recurrence intervals for nondamaging slow-slip quakes beneath Japan’s capital have shortened. That has left seismologists wondering if this aseismic creep could be signaling a countdown to Tokyo’s next “big one.” Read more about scientists’ estimations of Tokyo’s seismic risk in the August issue of EARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/1rOXM3R.

For more stories about the science of our planet, check out EARTH magazine online or subscribe at www.earthmagazine.org. The August issue, now available on the digital newsstand, features stories about a Pompeii-like eruption that buried a group of dinosaurs, ancient seawater found beneath the Chesapeake Bay crater, and a geologic tour of Northern Ireland’s Causeway Coast, plus much, much more.